


The King and the Huntsman

by MinaZ



Category: Grimm (TV)
Genre: BAMF Nick off screen, Backstory, Canon-Typical Violence, Fairy Tale Elements, Gen, Near Future, Worldbuilding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-11
Updated: 2016-03-11
Packaged: 2018-05-26 04:06:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,223
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6223102
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MinaZ/pseuds/MinaZ
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sean had always been the better student, but apparently Viktor learned nothing from history at all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The King and the Huntsman

**Author's Note:**

> I know I promised to finish "Baby Grimm" first, but I got stuck there and thought writing something else might help. And I think it did! So hopefully that one will also be updated within the next week :-)
> 
> As for this story, I went with the German fabel names of animals since I prefer them, and I think Sean might have heard them in German anyway as a child. All you need to know about them is in the story, so don't worry about it.  
> So far I have watched the first three seasons of Grimm, and some episodes of season four. But since I was spoilered (a lot :P) I decided to run with what I heard, so possible spoilers for season five, but more likely spoilers for the end of season four and AU from there on.

Captain Sean Renard was standing on the airstrip of an old private airport which had been closed for a good five years now. The wind was a bit harsh, but otherwise the weather was bearable.  
Gazing upward, he was lost in thoughts. Decades ago, back in the old world, his mother had told him a fairy tale.

~~~

A long, long time ago, there was a Huntsman. The Huntsman’s father had been a woodcutter, and from him he learned to swing an ax. The Huntsman's mother had been a Huntress and before she died, she thought him everything he needed to know about the beasts in this world.  
The Huntsman had six cousins, all Huntsmen and Huntresses in their own right. All had children, joyful daughters and lively sons.  
One day, a messenger of the King arrived at the Huntsman's house.  
“Huntsman”, he said. “Your King demands that you bring him the beak of Adebar. He affronted the Kings youngest son, and this cannot be ignored.”  
But the Huntsman shook his head. He knew Adebar, the stork, was foolishly proud. But he was the Huntsman. He had no king and hunted only beasts he himself judged guilty.  
On the next full moon, the messenger arrived again.  
“Huntsman, your King demands that you bring him the ears of Master Lampe. He refuses the King the honor he deserves, and this cannot be ignored.”  
But the Huntsman shook his head. He knew Master Lampe, the hare. He was cowardly and likely to scared to face the King. He was the Huntsman, and he saw no reason to judge him guilty.  
On the following full moon, the messenger arrived at the Huntsman's cabin for a third time.  
“Huntsman, your King demands that you bring him the paw of Master Petz. He payed his tithes late, three times, and this can not be ignored. Do not fail your King again.”  
But like before the Huntsman shook his head. He knew Master Petz, the bear, was good-natured, giving away so much to others that he himself struggled to keep up. From all the beasts in the woods, the Huntsman would not judge him, him least of all.

~~~

Sean motioned for Adalind, who was standing beside him to climb back into the car. She was shivering, but if from the cold or something else, he could not tell. The past few years had been better than expected. He had thought that he and Nick Burkhardt had reached a stable, common ground. Disputes on how to handle some cases, especially those involving politics, aside they had worked well together. The Grimm, after recovering from his losses, had been brought back on the good, fair path by his friends.

~~~

The messenger did not return, and the Huntsman thought about the matter no more. The King however, was enraged to be ignored like this. He was about to sent soldiers to the Huntsman's cabin, when his advisers cautioned him. The Huntsman's cousins would not stand by, and even if the Kings soldiers could overcome them, there would always be Hunters, there always were. Did the King want his son to deal with the children, the vengeful Hunters of tomorrow? The King saw the truth in that, but he never forgave the Huntsman.

The King was sitting outside his castle, pondering the slight, like he did often, when Reineke approached him. The fox was clever and had just lost his wife to the judgment of the Huntsman.  
“My King, I have heard of the terrible insult the Huntsman has dealt you.” He started. “Oh, I fear the whole Kingdom has heard about it.”  
The King’s face turned red, and quickly Reineke continued.  
“I heard of a way, to right this wrong.” Which was of cause a lie, but the fox knew better than to pretend that he himself had better ideas than the King himself.  
The King listened to him, and nodded, and agreed.

On the next full moon, the Huntsman heard the grief of a farmers family. First their animals had vanished, but now their middle son had been found, ripped apart. The Huntsman could not recognized who was responsible, but he could not ignore the murder. He kissed his little daughter goodbye, warned her to lock the door and to keep her knife with the serrated blade close by her.

Tracking through the woods, the Huntsman met one of his Cousins. The Huntress was also looking for an unknown beast, and together their continued on their path. Not long after, they met their next Cousin, and the next, and the next. When all seven of them stood together on a clearing, they knew they had been tricked. But nothing came at them, and they turned around and they ran back home, as fast as their legs could carry them. When the Huntsman reached his cabin, he saw the door broken open, blood on the floor and the serrated blade sticking in a chair. His daughter was gone.  
Running as fast as he could for the second time in the same night, he reached his Cousin's house and soon they were all together again, and all their children were gone. 

~~~

It all had changed again, ten days ago. A frantic phone call from Adalind had Burkhardt storming out of the station, Renard and Hank hot on his tail. But at this point, it was already to late. Nick's and Adalind's home was destroyed, the Hexenbiest, was siting dazed in the ruins, hands and face bloody.  
Kelly was gone.

~~~

The council of animals held a meeting. They knew the woods, and what happened in them. They knew that the soldiers of the King had lain a false trail of blood for the Hunters to follow. They knew the Kings sons, the seven princes, had gone out and taken the children of the Huntsmen and Huntresses.  
The King had ordered them to be quite. But the Animals had their own kingdom.  
The issues was clear. Clever Reineke took the word.  
“My fellow beasts, how do we deserve it to be judged by the Huntsmen. We do nothing but what our nature dictates us, and yet we let them harm us, hunt us, kill us. How do we deserve such indignity? Their loss can only be our gain!”  
Isegrim, the wolf, agreed immediately. He had a taste for human flesh, and had lost many brothers and sisters to the Hunters.  
Adebar, the stork, proud as he was, agreed immediately as well. How dare anyone judge him?  
Master Lampe, the hare, was too scared to have an opinion, so when Adebar and Isegrimm nodded, so did he.  
Master Petz, the bear, did not agree, but he was too good-natured to start a fight, so he said nothing.  
Nobel, the lion, sat as always at the head of the council and listened. He was young, and proud and hearing none of his subject disagreeing, he nodded his consent.

~~~

They left no stone in Portland, or Oregon, unturned. Sean used all his resources in the hope of hearing just the tiniest bit of information about the stolen child. Nothing.  
Nick had been standing in his office, pale and shaking.  
“How can you...” the Grimm started and stopped. “If I hadn't forgiven Adalind already, I would do so now. How can you stand this? How can you function without knowing…” he stopped himself again, realizing that he was making a bad situation worse. Sean had offered him a drink, rather than platitudes.  
And then the other Grimms had arrived. Not the ones like Trubel, no, not the unlucky ones who stumbled into their heritage without a single clue. This were the Grimms that Nick would have joined, if Mary Kessler had initiated him earlier. These were Grimm who knew what their were, knew their ancestors, knew their history, and had their own stories to tell.

~~~

The Hunters searched and asked and tried to find their sons and daughters, but beasts were quite for the King had promised them and their children a life without the sometimes harsh judgment of the Hunters and their had agreed.  
One day, the Hunter was sitting by the river, head in his hands, despairing. A shadow fell over him, and he looked up.  
“Oh, Master Petz, what am I to do? I searched everywhere, I asked everyone, no one knows were my sweet little girl is.”  
Master Petz good-natured heart could not endure seeing such grief.  
“Oh Huntsman, the King has taken your child, yours and all the other. He raises them in his castle, and when they are old enough he will kill you and your Cousins, so that finally the Huntsman and Huntresses of this land will bow to him too. We should have not kept quite.”  
The Huntsman was furious, and in his fury he killed Master Petzt, and felt no remorse. 

~~~

The Wesen of Portland were petrified, and with good reason. In the end it took both Renard and Monroe to convince Nick that he had the authority, and the responsibility as Portlands Grimm to lay down the law.  
Burkhardt asked the other Grimms to refrain from hunting in his city. The Grimms agreed. Slowly, it dawned to the Royal of Portland what was happening.  
Word spread, and the next day Alexander the Pflichtreue and executor of the Wesen Counsil arrived. 

~~~

The Huntsmen and Huntresses made a plan to enter the castle of the King by night in the shadows. As plans were wont to do it failed and their slaughtered their way through a quarter of the Kings soldiers, for the Hunters were stronger, and better fighters, and they were desperate. They reached the nursery and there was some rejoicing, for some of the Hunters had found their missing children, but also lament, for all children over the age of eight were still missing. 

In the end they found an old, tiered nursemaid, Murner the cat, who led them to an ancient crypt, outside of the castle. On the cold wet stone, the Huntsman found his beautiful daughter, pale as snow, with crescent moon of red sliced through her throat. All the children still missing were found.  
“The King,” said Murner “Ordered them killed after realizing that they had already started to learn the trade of their family, and would not learn to bow before him”  
This time, their grief was silent, too large to fit into words. They knew they were to weak to return to the castle for vengeance, all were bleeding from open wounds, some barely able to stand.  
The Huntsman raised his arm to strike her down with his bare hands, but his Cousin stopped him.  
“Murner.” the Huntress spoke. “We have mercy with you, and let you go. But we have a message for your council. This is the last time we will show mercy, for any beast or any royal walking this world.”  
And the cat hurried off, to spread the news.  
Among themselves the Huntsmen and Huntresses made a promise before disbanding, to recover, to teach their surviving sons and daughters. And to hunt. 

~~~

The Prince of Portland wondered if Viktor had heard the old fairy tale. Had he ignored the warning? Or taken it as inspiration? It hardly mattered anymore. They could see a plane descending. Adalind climbed back out of the car, leaving the door open. On the radio, the news were on. A tragedy in Europe. An old castle burned to the ground. Dozens of people dead. Heaps of charred bodies. All beheaded. The House of Kronenberg, destroyed.  
The plane landed and the hatch opened. With quick steps, Sean and Adalind moved closer. Alexander came out first. This time, in this story, the Council had made a different choice. The Pflichttreue turned around to help Nick down the stairs. The Grimm was limping but holding his three year old son securely in his arms.  
A sob escaped Adalind as she fell against him kissing her youngest child, holding both close. Alexander returned into the plane, and helped someone else down. Renard couldn't breath. He fell on his knees, and in seconds his daughter was in his arms. His daughter. Diana was back!  
Sean didn't let go of her for a long while, until Adalind realized who else was there and sank down beside him, holding both her children close. The half-Zauberbiest sat back, and just watched them, until he felt a hand on his shoulder. Looking up at Nick, he could feel the first real smile in months, if not years on his face.  
“Thank you, Nick. I can't tell you how...”  
The Grimm shook his head.  
“I know.”  
He looked at the mother of their children.  
“The danger isn't over with your family gone. She will need us both Ca… Sean. And we.. I… I mean...”  
Nick looked away, and Renard got back onto his feet so that he could look at the younger man. He was radiating an aura of both unbreakable strength and bone deep exhaustion, of the Grimm willing to hunt down anything, and the father who had just taken on one of the most powerful families of the world for his son, and won.  
“And we need each other too.” Sean finished for Nick. It got him a smile.  
“Better together?”  
Sean looked at his new family, all four of them and nodded.  
“Better together.”

**Author's Note:**

> As fairy tales are, this one is also supposed to be biased. I certainly don't want to excuse the actions of the Grimms of the past, I just wanted to play with the idea of what might happend. I would love to hear from you if the fairy tale worked for you :-)


End file.
